The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Lobelia and given the cultivar name ‘Fried Green Tomatoes’. Lobelia is in the family Campanulaceae. Lobelia cardinalis ‘Fried Green Tomatoes’ originated as a seedling from a sowing of seeds of the species Lobelia cardinalis in a greenhouse at a nursery in Bridgeton, N.J.
Compared to typical plants of the species Lobelia cardinalis, the new cultivar has foliage that is purple in color in spring and green with interveinal green in summer rather than green, is more tolerant of average soils, and exhibits a more vigorous growth habit. The new cultivar can be compared to Lobelia cardinalis cultivar ‘Golden Torch’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 19,844) which differs from ‘Fried Green Tomatoes’ in having new foliage growth that is golden in color and in having a less vigorous growth habit. The new cultivar can also be compared to Lobelia ‘Queen Victoria’ (not patented), which differs from ‘Fried Green Tomatoes’ in being a hybrid of unknown origin that has a less vigorous growth habit, purple foliage that does not last as long in the season, and in having a plant habit that flops in a typical garden.
This new cultivar has been reproduced only by asexual propagation (tip cuttings and divisions). Each of the clones exhibited identical characteristics to the original plant. Asexual propagation by division, standard technique, as done in Bridgeton, N.J., shows that the foregoing characteristics and distinctions come true and are established and transmitted through succeeding propagations. The present invention has not been evaluated under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may change with variations in environment without a change in the genotype of the plant.